Intel to launch 'Steeley' UMPC CPU on 18 April?

Intel will formally announce 'Steeley', its new ultra-mobile PC-oriented processor, at Intel Developer Forum in Beijing in two weeks' time, it has been claimed. It will also unveil 'McCaslin', its UMPC platform.

Intel employees let slip the existence of Steeley last September, but it's a part the chip giant has kept very quiet about ever since. This week, Taiwanese notebook maker moles cited by Chinese-language site HKEPC claimed Steeley is derived from the Pentium M - as are the Core series of processors. The part has 512KB of on-board L2 cache, supports 600MHz and 800MHz frontside bus speeds, and incorporates the deep sleep state that will be a feature of the upcoming 'Santa Rosa' mobile Core 2 Duo revision.

Fabbed at 90nm, Steeley's die is said to measure just 1.4 x 1.9cm.

'Little River', McCaslin's North Bridge chip, is bigger: 2.2 x 2.2cm. It can connect to up to 1GB 400MHz DDR 2 SDRAM and has a Windows Vista-friendly GMA X3000 graphics core on board. It connects to a cut-down version of Intel's ICH7-M South Bridge, the moles maintain.

Together, the chips are said to draw no more than 9.3W, with an average power consumption of 1.95W.

Steeley, McCaslin and Little River are said to be scheduled for a formal unveiling on 18 April. That's in line with Samsung's unwillingness to talk about the chip that will power its upcoming second-generation UMPC, the Q1 Ultra.